Chicago Tribune to launch creative new site

Posted by Caroline Huber on May 5, 2009 at 5:45 PM

This June the Chicago Tribune will launch a new website, Chicago Now, which will combine social media, e-commerce, blogs, news content, and advertorials to "connect Chicagoans through a network of niche sites." According to its promotion video, the project will be "Huffington Post meets Facebook for Chicago" and aims to attract new local audiences who will engage with each other as well as advertisers.

Chicago Now does not intend to replace ChicagoTribune.com, which will continue, though it will replace the Tribune's web site for RedEye, its free daily targeted to a young urban audience. The new site's goal is to build an authentic and engaged local community quickly and to secure 35% of local web traffic.

The promotion video also claims that Chicago Now will offer new and creative ad solutions and allow advertisers to reach "engaged and targeted local audiences." It also boasts that it will feature the "best bloggers in Chicago in cutting-edge platforms" including high profile personalities and celebrities. By December it plans to feature 80 blogs.

The Tribune brags that "to date no media company has ever created anything like Chicago Now." Many news publications seek ways to attract the younger generation that is more interested in social networking and more indifferent to news. Just how original will the site prove to be, and will it be able to compete with the popular existing sites like Facebook that also contain social networking and news options? Will this local site succeed in capturing enough young Chicagoans to satisfy advertisers?

Source: Editor and Publisher